On the one hand, you have the Panamians, but Frederick Wiseman shows them as the Americans see them: from a distance. They are poor and of no particular interest to them even if Panama is ... See full summary »

WELFARE shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical... See full summary »

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There's a saying that you pass through boredom into fascination, and when it applies to Frederick Wiseman's movies, it's true. This film, shot during the Christmas season at a Nieman Marcus in Dallas, allows you to be a true fly on the wall in 1982 as rich people shop for holiday dresses, displays of plush E.Ts are put up, some office workers have a birthday party (complete with a guy in a chicken suit), and people behind the scenes control the flow of goods in and out as the well-heeled purchase gifts. This movie fills me with more warm nostalgia than any repeat viewing of It's A Wonderful Life ever could, as it makes me a participant again in the 1982 of Christmas past

not the reconstructed version, assembled from the detritus and artifacts

remaining in our era, but allowing me the experience of existing, living, and breathing in the past again. Its real-time, judgementless pace takes a moment to adjust to, but once you do, just being an impartial observer on a moment in time and space is endlessly absorbing.

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